SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a global leader in flash storage
solutions, today announced that it has filed a civil lawsuit against
Korea’s SK Hynix, Inc., SK Hynix America and related entities in Santa
Clara Superior Court. The lawsuit seeks damages, an injunction and other
remedies against Hynix for trade secret misappropriation under
California’s Uniform Trade Secret Act.
Additionally, SanDisk has submitted a criminal complaint with the Tokyo
Metropolitan Police Department against a former employee.
These actions relate to the theft of trade secrets related to NAND flash
technology by a former engineer of SanDisk who left the company in 2008
to work for SK Hynix. This engineer is alleged to have illegally taken
SanDisk’s proprietary technical information and to have subsequently
provided it to SK Hynix.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police today announced the arrest of the former
employee, who worked at SanDisk’s joint venture manufacturing facility
in Yokkaichi, Japan. SanDisk has been and continues to cooperate with
law enforcement in their investigation.
SanDisk’s joint venture relationship with Toshiba Corporation has been
in place for nearly 15 years and represents one of the most successful
partnerships in the semiconductor industry. SanDisk and Toshiba together
have enabled more than 10 generations of NAND flash technologies over
these years.
“SanDisk strongly believes in the value of IP, and takes protecting
trade secrets seriously,” said Judy Bruner, executive vice president,
administration, and chief financial officer at SanDisk. “We are working
diligently with the authorities as well as our partner on these matters
and are aggressively pursuing all legal remedies available to us.”
About SanDisk
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company,
is a global leader in flash storage solutions. For more than 25 years,
SanDisk has expanded the possibilities of storage, providing trusted and
innovative products that have transformed the electronics industry.
Today, SanDisk’s quality, state-of-the-art solutions are at the heart of
many of the world's largest data centers, and embedded in advanced smart
phones, tablets and PCs. SanDisk’s consumer products are available at
hundreds of thousands of retail stores worldwide. For more information,
visit www.sandisk.com.
© 2014 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk and the SanDisk
logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United
States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for
identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their
respective holder(s).
Copyright Business Wire 2014